Narrow Escape
by Mirrored Illusions
Summary: Buffy's swan dive in the Gift somehow clashes with Harry and Hermione going back in time to rescue Sirius, causing Buffy to land in Scotland in 1994.
1. Narrow Escape

**Disclaimer**: The Buffyverse belongs to Joss and the Potterverse belongs to J.K.R.

**Author's Note**: Written for Day 01 of the 2019 August Fic-A-Day.

After saying goodbye to her little sister, Buffy ran the short distance to the edge of the tower and made a swan dive off of it. She was scared, she didn't want to die, but she had been cheating death for more than five years and she made the deliberate choice to give her own life for Dawn and everyone else. Buffy was a Slayer and that meant she was always going to have a violent end, but by choosing to die tonight, she got to save everyone one last time.

She briefly closed her eyes as the swirling portal rushed closer but reopened them just before she hit the outer edges of it. A part of her mind made note of how pretty the colors were, but most of her concentration was on what would be the last few seconds of her life.

About half-way through the portal, the colors changed from white, blue, and pinkish-purple to gold and white, and she got the distinct feeling of being flipped around and then pulled backward through a whirlwind rather than falling down. It was an odd but not entirely uncomfortable feeling.

The next thing she knew she was standing much too close to two other people without even realizing she'd landed on a flat surface. A thin golden chain was suddenly digging into her neck and by the looks of it the necks of the two other people. Beyond them was a large wooden door and beyond that, she saw pale sunlight. Another quick look around revealed them to be standing in what seemed to be a hallway of a very old stone building.

One of the other two people turned out to be a bushy-haired brunette with cognac-colored eyes who seemed to be in her early teens. The other was a short boy about the same age with black messy hair and a couple of very green eyes behind black glasses. Both of them looked as startled as she felt, but the girl quickly regained her senses and dragged both of them across the hall and into a storage closet. All three of them tried to avoid the buckets and mops and other cleaning supplies while trying to find somewhere at least semi-comfortable to stand.

After the girl managed to close the door behind them she removed the chain from around both of their necks before collecting the chain and dropping what looked like an hourglass pendant under her shirt. Buffy instinctively used one hand to rub her neck where it had dug in even more as they moved from the hallway and into their new hiding place. Meanwhile, the boy had found his voice.

"Hermione? What happened?" And in what seemed like more of an afterthought, he asked: "And who is she?"

Looking at the two teenagers Buffy decided she was the adult there and should take charge of the situation, or something. Or at the very least figure out what happened since she was relatively certain they were not in Sunnydale anymore or even California. It didn't feel like a Hell dimension, but there was a lot of ambient magic everywhere. She was also close enough to her two companions to know they were magical as well, but neither gave off a vibe of evilness so she decided to run with it and not think about her own attempted suicide to save Dawn.

"My name is Buffy," she introduced herself into the semi-darkness. "Who are you two, and where are we?" Easing into it would hopefully work. The little room wasn't entirely dark, at least not to her, but she was guessing the others were probably not able to see much of anything.

"My name is Hermione," the girl promptly introduced herself, "and this is Harry."

The newly named Harry continued, "We're at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

The Slayer blinked a couple of times. "Come again?" She had excellent hearing, but that couldn't be right.

Harry repeated his answer, and then added: "It's located in the Scottish Highlands." So she did hear him right. Apparently, Sunnydale wasn't the only place with weird stuff happening.

But then he lost interest in Buffy and began asking his friend questions instead. Which caused her to launch into an explanation about using something called a Time-Turner to attend extra classes during the school year. Buffy smiled to herself in the darkness, Willow would've loved the ability to attend more classes. Buffy herself would've loved having it so she could more easily be both the girl and the Slayer. A tiny little hourglass and she would've been able to both spend more time with her sister and friends and still be able to do her duty and slay the monsters.

Then Hermione began talking about someone named Dumbledore, who had apparently given her vague permission to abuse her privilege with the Time-Turner to save someone named Serious Black. Mucho weirdness, but they did seem to be in the Land of Tweed. Or at least, adjacent to the Land of Tweed.

Then she heard several sets of footsteps and some scuffling and muffled voices. A little while later so did the teenagers.

"Are you saying we're both in this cupboard hiding, and out there sneaking out under the Cloak?"

"Yes," Hermione replied. "I believe we're on our way to Hagrid's. It sounds like no more than three people and we're walking slowly because we're under the Invisibility Cloak." More nifty magical stuff, straight out of some fantastical movie.

The teens kept talking as they seemed to have forgotten she was even there. They kept going back and forth trying to figure out what this Dumbledore person wanted them to do. Which eventually turned out to be saving a mythological creature from having its head cut off for something a misbehaving student had made it do. Interrupting with a few questions along the way had been slightly entertaining when both of them had jumped a little and squeaked.

Flimsy, mostly non-existent plan in place, they snuck out into the deserted entranceway and down the stone steps on the other side. It was getting dark and a forest on the other side of the large lawn was turning gold in the distance. Sneaking around the side of the building, hurrying over a vegetable garden, they went behind several greenhouses where the kids took a quick break while Buffy carefully looked inside to make sure no one was there, and then they made a run for the forest.

She still didn't know what happened or how the portal made her land in a magical school in Scotland, but it seemed like she was going to team up with two teenagers to help an escaped prisoner escape again on a mythological bird whom they needed to save first from getting executed.


	2. Hiding Places

**Timeline**: BtVS: Post-The Gift & HP: the Prisoner of Azkaban.  
**Disclaimer**: The Buffyverse belongs to Joss and the Potterverse belongs to J.K.R.  
**Author's Note**: Written for Day 02 of the 2019 August Fic-A-Day.

The surreal circumstances continued as their little trio moved toward a wooden hut on the grounds, where, according to Harry, the groundskeeper lived. The mythological creature turned out to have the front legs (including claws), wings, and head of a giant eagle and the body, hind legs, and tail of a horse. The voice in Buffy's head that tended to sound like Giles, got very excited. Buffy herself kept an eye on the claws and its sharp-looking beak, just in case.

After a lot of waiting, a group of ancient-looking people came and entered the hut, and she finally got to see the much-talked-about Dumbledore. Her first and immediate thought was that he looked like he was supposed to be in a Pride Parade somewhere but wisely kept the comment to herself. Her second reaction wasn't so much a thought as a feeling, and it wasn't a good one. It pertained not only to the magical school's principal but also the man with the ax and the man with the bowler hat. She would definitely not trust any of them, especially not the Executioner.

After a small bit of drama where Harry managed to get the Hippogriff to move away from the pumpkin patch and behind some threes, they hid closer to a tree that turned out to be semi-sentient and angry with the world. Angry enough that it kept trying to hit the original version of her two companions. Eventually, the tree stopped moving after a cat hit a knot or a button, according to Hermione.

Original Harry, Original Hermione, and a red-headed boy disappeared into a tunnel under the Whomping Willow, and who was naming these things? Shortly after a werewolf used a stick to hit the same button and went down after the three students. The giant man from before went up to the Castle, and how hadn't she noticed it was a castle before now? He seemed to have a low tolerance for alcohol as he was already weaving slightly as he sang loudly in happiness that his creature had somehow gotten free.

Shortly after Hagrid went into the Castle another man stepped out. This one was dressed in all black, with shoulder-length black hair to match. He gave off the same bad vide as the one with the ax had earlier, and Buffy narrowed her eyes. Like the ones before him, he went to the tree and used the stick to poke the knot, but before he went down he picked up some odd-looking fabric from the ground and threw it over his shoulders.

Harry took the latter part badly, and when she asked he replied, "That's my invisibility cloak! He has no right to take it!"

Choosing to ignore what she couldn't she change, she opted for some information instead. "What's going on down there and will we need to move soon?"

Hermione took charge of answering immediately and thankfully began with a little backstory for her benefit. "Harry's parents were killed when he was 15 months old and his godfather, Sirius Black, was thrown in Azkaban, the wizarding prison, without a trial. He's innocent, but we didn't know that until he told us in the Shrieking Shack. That's where the tunnel is going, to the Shrinking Shack down in Hogsmeade.

"Sirius, Harry's dad, and Professor Lupin are childhood friends. They were also friends with Wormtail, the real traitor." Silently and very much in her own head, Buffy sighed at the weird names and the irony of a werewolf being named after the moon of all things. "Wormtail faked his own death and made it look like Sirius had killed him and 12 muggles. It was all very chaotic and unprofessional, but Sirius escaped this summer when he found out the real traitor was here and alive, at Hogwarts, with Harry."

"He wants to kill Pettigrew," Harry interjected. Off her confused look, he added. "Wormail's real name is Peter Pettigrew. Sirius escaped to protect me, but everyone thinks he escaped to finish what he started back in '81 and finally kill me. And no one wants to listen, and Dumbledore claims he can't do anything."

The two teenagers spent a good half hour trying to explain the situation, and the British Magical World before Buffy suddenly asked an unrelated question. "What year is it?" There was just something bugging her about their appearance, and it wasn't because they were wearing cloaks and robes underneath. Well, yes, that was part of it, but there was something else.

Both of the teenagers blinked at her for the non-sequitur. "1994. It's June." Harry gave her a worried look, "Why do you ask?"

Thinking quickly, she gave a brief lie. "Just making sure I didn't time travel in addition to ending up on the other side of the planet. It means I can call my friends back home so I can go home when this is over." She gave a small smile. Please buy it, please buy it. She repeated in her head.

She was seven years in the past, which explained the 90's hair do's, and with any luck, she was still in her own reality and dimension and not somewhere else like Glory's home hell dimension. That meant that if all else failed, she could just take the really long way home. And maybe even bring some extra magical back-up.

She also had her Slayer powers, despite the fact that she wouldn't be Chosen for another three years or so.

After that, the situation became chaotic. Everyone came out of the tunnel, but the black-haired professor, Snape, was unconscious and was being levitated. Lupin turned into a werewolf when the cloud cover moved and Sirius turned into a large dog to protect the group and chase the werewolf away from them. Wormtail turned into a rat and escaped. Some creepy demonic creatures came gliding in and the next thing she knew every single bad memory she had came to the surface. Her beloved grandmother's death, realizing her parents were going to divorce. Finally understanding being the Slayer meant that she would die very young and probably very violently. The Master killing her. Angelus. Her mother getting sick. Finding her mother's body. The memories came flooding through her mind and it was a relief when she finally blacked out and everything just stopped.


	3. Fly Away With Me

**Author's Note**: Written for Day 07 of the 2019 August Fic-A-Day.

By the time Buffy regained consciousness, there was something nearby emitting a lot of happiness in stark contrast to the demonic creatures who had made her relive all of her worst memories and made her feel like she would never find any kind of happiness ever again. The evil things were rapidly retreating and she was feeling better by the second. As she pushed the bad memories away, she got back up again and saw that Harry was petting what looked like a stag made of nothing but magical light and happiness, something she most definitely approved of.

As she watched it dissolved into a white mist before disappearing completely and she pouted since it took the wonderful happiness with it. "What happened and what kind of demons were they and what was the glowy stag?"

Harry's eyes looked wide behind his black glasses and he was kind of grinning like a lunatic. A quick look around revealed that Hermione had also passed out but was coming around if the groaning coming from her direction was an indication. He then went on rambling about how it hadn't been his father who had cast the Patronus who saved them, but him. It had been part of one of their earlier chats while waiting for the pertinent things to happen.

The demonic things turned out to be a kind of magical creature called Dementors who fed off of people's happiness and apparently ate souls through kissing. How's that for creepy?

Then Harry got the brilliant idea for them to fly the mythological creature up to the office where his godfather was being kept.

"Ah, Harry? You do realize there are three of us and only one of that thing?"

That stumped the teenager, but not his friend. "Hippogriffs are very strong and you're, well, short for an adult. I'm sure it'll be fine. We won't be flying far, just up there." She pointed to the West Tower and Buffy followed her line of sight.

Then she added, with a slightly weary look at the creature. "Hippogriffs are very proud and they will attack if you insult them. That's why Buckbeak attacked Malfoy, he insulted him. Malfoy retaliated by attempting to get Buckbeak executed."

Buffy couldn't help but stare. "Was he warned beforehand?"

"Yes," the two teenagers replied almost in unison. Then Hermione, clearly the ever-helpful student, added. "It happened during our first Care of Magical Creature class so there were lots of witnesses, but none of them were willing to speak up during the hearing and he was convicted."

"Then why did it go through?" The reply didn't make her happy at all. The more she learned about this little community the less she approved.

As they got closer Harry began explaining how to approach the Hippogriff, and then went ahead to show them.

Buffy watched as the young wizard went forward and established eye-contact with the odd-looking creature and then bowed low while keeping the eye-contact until the Hippogriff knelt as well. Both rose and Harry went close to pat Buckbeak's beak. Buffy and Hermione repeated the gestures so they could all get on its back. Harry sat in the front, Hermione sat behind him, and Buffy was last.

An interesting flight later, where Buffy was certain Harry suddenly became very aware that his friend was female, and both Hermione and Buffy were let off on top of the Tower while Harry flew down to get his godfather. After all, it was one thing for the three of them to fly on the half-bird, half horse, but adding a full-grown man, even one that was half-starved, was a bad idea.

The man was both very thankful and very confused as to how his godson came to fly a Hippogriff or how he was capable of being there when he had been told Harry was unconscious in the Hospital Wing.

"Look, Mr. Black -"

"Sirius". The man interjected.

She humored the man and began again. "Look, Sirius. There isn't a lot of time. You, we, need to leave this castle. So, get back on Buckbeak and I'll explain once we get somewhere not here. Okay?"

With encouragement from Harry and Hermione, they got back onto the creature, got as comfortable as they were able to and then were off after saying a quick goodbye. After some waving the two teens ran inside to make sure they didn't mess up the timeline.

Less than three hours ago she had been jumping off of a different tower to save her sister and the world, now she was leaving the tower of a magical castle on a stolen mythological creature with an escaped prisoner as her 'driver'/guide to this strange insular community.

How was this her life or afterlife or whatever?


	4. Talking

**Author's Note**: Written for Day 09 of the 2019 August Fic-A-Day.

Flying on a hippogriff was… interesting. It wasn't like riding a horse but wasn't all that different either. Mostly the feathers kept throwing her off, and the flying part was of the weirdness, too. There wasn't a whole lot of talking while they were flying, despite Sirius Black's obvious confusion and curiosity.

The situation must be almost as weird to him as it was to Buffy. Harry made sense. Harry bringing along a friend/classmate also made sense. But a random American woman escaping with him? If she hadn't been a Slayer she never would've done it, or even considered it. But there was something off about that Dumbledore guy, and from what she'd heard about the British Magical Community, it left a lot to be desired.

Sirius, on the other hand, didn't give off a weird supernatural vibe so she had made a snap decision to cautiously trust him. Her inner Slayer approved, so she would go with it. For now. He was flirting, more as a reflex to seeing a woman who wasn't a guard she was guessing. She had heard about how many men would find a woman, any woman when they were released from longer sentences. Or escaped. Buffy gave the back of Sirius' head a stern look, he better not expect benefits out of this.

The wizard prepared for landing nearly four hours later. She had no idea where they were, but one moment there was nothing but grass, hills, animals, and an assortment of rocks, and the next there was suddenly a two-story house in front of them. She blinked but didn't get a chance to ask as they were disembarking. Sirius tended to the hippogriff while Buffy looked around trying to figure out where the house had come from.

They had passed through a magical ward of some kind, but that couldn't hide the building. Could it? The magic she had encountered here was different from the magic she had been in contact with before. It wasn't like Willow and Tara's magic, it didn't have the taint that Giles and Amy's magic had. It was also different from Miss Calendar's Gypsy magic, so Buffy came to the conclusion that this was yet another kind. A kind of magic that required a magical focus.

Well, the easiest way to get answers was to ask... "Where did the house come from? And where are we?"

"This house belongs to my family, or me. I think. I have access at any rate and we can hide here without anyone knowing. It's a vacation home we haven't used in a few generations so no one will think to look here." Then he clearly realized he hadn't actually answered her first question and added, "There are heavy wards on the property, including making it invisible to anyone who isn't either a Black or who isn't brought here by a Black."

That would've been nifty to use on her home in Sunnydale if it could be reworked so demons and the undead couldn't find it or see it unless they were given special permission. Adding it to Willow's, Xander's, and Giles' apartment would be of the good, too.

"And where is this fancy protected house located?"

"Wales." Still adjacent to the Land of Tweed then, just from a different angle.

Sirius had let Buckbeak go while they were talking and it was now looking for food with one of its claws in the unkempt lawn. Which probably meant they had sort of, accidentally gotten themselves a pet. If a mythological creature could be a pet.

"Now it's your turn. What happened? How was Harry flying to rescue me when I had been told he was unconscious in the Hospital Wing?" He mentally reviewed his questions and then added, "And who are you? I don't think there's been a Yankee at Hogwarts in a very, very long time."

Buffy smiled wryly and stopped herself from saying 'someone lied to you?' Aloud, she replied. "Well, it's a little complicated and I'm not sure I understand it. Scratch that, I don't understand." Sirius gave her an amused grin as he entered the house. "But the gist of it is that Hermione was given this little hourglass thingy, a Time-Turner, so she could get to an absurd number of classes."

"Harry's a Potter alright. Potter's are always going for the smartest girl in their year. James was the same. Lily was a very bright and kind witch with a wicked temper. She had a Time-Turner in her Third Year as well, it drove us batty trying to figure out how she did it. They were Harry's parents."

"What I don't understand is why someone would give a teenager a device that gives them the opportunity to mess with time. It sounds like a disaster waiting to happen." If someone had given the average American teenager the chance to go back in time, even if it was only an hour, all hell would've broken loose. Depending on where the teenager was located it could even have been literally.

"Easy there. It's heavily regulated. They are given rules for how and when they are allowed to use the Time-Turner. They're told all of the things that can go wrong and how to avoid them. They are also not allowed to tell anyone." The Slayer just gave him the look that answer deserved.

"Lily didn't tell us until after we had graduated, and yes, it was because she knew we would've found some… creative ways to use it." He gave her the shadow of a roguish grin before he winked. "She didn't like us at the time, so that was probably also a factor."

"Not love at first sight, then?"

Sirius laughed, "It was for James, but all Lily saw for most of our time at Hogwarts was an entitled, rich bully. She came around in our Seventh Year when James' head deflated some."

She nodded, it was irrelevant and something his godson would maybe be interested in knowing. He asked. "How did the hippogriff get involved?"

"Some bratty kid in Harry's class couldn't follow simple instructions and it attacked the boy. In revenge, the boy blabbed to his father who arranged for the creature to get executed. Dumbledore gave instructions in riddle form, basically, save Buckbeak to save you, and off they went."

"You don't like Dumbledore?" Oops, she needed to modulate her voice a little better.

"He gives me bad vibes." Sirius just looked confused again. "There's something about him that isn't right, and until I find out why I won't trust him." An understanding nod and the man changed the subject again.

"What about you? How did you get involved if it wasn't through Dumbledore?"

Buffy winced a little. "Conflicting magic, I think. Or colliding magic. I don't know, it shouldn't have happened. I was… going through a portal and somehow I ended up in a corridor at Hogwarts standing much too close to a couple of teenagers with a thin, golden chain around my neck." Don't ask why I was going through a portal, don't ask why I was going through a portal.

"Why would you going through an ornate door send you half-way around the world?" Images of Narnia popped into her head for absolutely no reason and she began laughing. Sirius first looked surprised and then he began looking upset, so she quickly apologized for her inappropriate behavior.

"It was a magical portal, a gateway if you want, from where I was and to somewhere else. But that somewhere else wasn't in Britain, so I shouldn't have ended up here at all." Avoiding the real reason, check.

"When magic does something like this there's a reason, and apparently it has something to do with you. Or I think it might. You needed saveage and now we're both somewhere else."

She gave him a calculating look and crossed her arms under her chest. "Why were you in prison and why did you escape?" Hermione had already given her the cliff notes version, but she was curious about how he would explain the situation.

"I fucked up. We all did." He suddenly looked like a kicked puppy. "We all trusted the wrong person. It was supposed to be a big prank. No one would suspect that Wormtail was the Secret Keeper since everyone knew I was James' best friend and the most likely person to keep them safe. But that traitorous rat had already been one of You-Know-Who's servants for a year without any of us knowing. .It-"

"I don't know who," Buffy interjected when he inhaled.

The former prisoner gave her shocked eyes. "You don't know who He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is?"

"No."

"But you said you were a witch. All magical people know who he is."

"I didn't say I'm a witch, and I'm not. I said I was going through a portal. Not the same. And you're dodging the question."

"He. Um…" The conflict in his mind was clear as day on his face. "Muggles aren't supposed to know about magic."

This was getting her nowhere. Every time she asked a question, he'd say something incomprehensible. "Muggle?"

"Non-magical person."

"I'm not a witch, but I'm not non-magical either. And that word sounds offensive."

Sirius opened his mouth to say something and then changed his mind. Instead, he found a piece of parchment of all things and wrote the name 'Voldemort' on it.

"Don't say the name, it breaks magical protections."

"Right, so your friend was a follower of Flight From Death, and then?"

He ignored the bait and continued. "The Potter's used a spell called the Fidelius Charm. It uses a Secret Keeper to hide a secret within their soul. The secret can only be told voluntarily, so torture doesn't work. I convinced them to change to Peter at the last minute, it would have been a good laugh at You-Know-Who's expense if it had worked."

"He betrayed them. When I came to their cottage I found James right inside the door, dead. Lily was in front of Harry's crib, also dead. But Hagrid was holding Harry and he was alive, said Dumbledore had told him to bring the toddler to him. Blinded with grief and a need for revenge I accepted it and went after the rat instead."

If Harry and Hermione hadn't made with the explanations earlier she would've been completely lost. As it was, she believed him.

"I caught up with him on a muggle street and we argued. He tried to defend what he'd done, and then he cut off his own finger, sent a blasting curse into a crowd of muggles, and changed into a rat and escaped down into the sewers during the chaos. The Aurors arrived right after and I was carted off to Azkaban and left there to rot."

That was a raw deal and another major point again the insulated community.

"I escaped to protect Harry from Wormtail."

Well, she couldn't fault him for that.


	5. Spilled Secrets

**Timeline**: BtVS: Post-Chosen & HP: Prisoner of Azkaban  
**Disclaimer**: The Buffyverse belongs to Joss Whedon and HP belongs to J.K.R.

**Author's Note**: Written for Day 15 of the 2019 August Fic-A-Day.

After getting a quick background on each other they began exploring the house a little. It was surprisingly free of any dust or decay despite having been left unattended for decades, but when she inquired about it the only answer she got was 'magic'. It was decorated with furniture made of heavy, dark wood and expensive fabrics. The color theme seemed to mostly rely on shades of brown, green, and silver. It was elegant if not very old-fashioned.

Sirius left her to her own devices with nothing more than a "You can look around but be very careful before you touch anything or attempt to enter a new room. My family is bloody dark and left traps and curses everywhere." Then he disappeared deeper into the house to do who-knows-what.

Buffy gave the entranceway a wary look but decided she couldn't stay there, and carefully walked over to the nearest door, opposite the one Sirius had left through. Once she was close enough she held her hand right above the door handle and tried to sense any magic, good or bad. The only result she got was the same as in the rest of the room; ambient magic with a dark evil-ish undertone. If the rest of the house was like this then it needed to be cleansed.

The door led to an equally darkly-furnished parlor. If it had been the house of a family with a normal income she would've said the living room, but the entire place just reeked of centuries gone by. As soon as she stepped over the sill all of the candles in the room lit up, illuminating everything. She definitely wasn't in Kansas anymore.

It took a good half-hour before the escaped prisoner came back carrying what could only be a wand. She had been looking around for a while, but while everything in the room looked expensive and highly valuable it wasn't her style. The empty picture frames were also strange and gave off a sense of something she couldn't place.

"All that for a piece of wood?" She couldn't help asking in a teasing tone.

"They took my wand when they placed me in Azkaban, so this one isn't a perfect fit but it will work well enough. It belonged to a great-great-uncle or something." He pointed it towards the fireplace and with a half-muttered "Incendio!" As soon as the orange-red light hit the old wood laying in there it lit up and flames began lighting up the room. He cast a second spell and the amount of wood in the fireplace doubled.

It was early summer but it wasn't really warm especially since it was in the middle of the night, so the fire was a welcome addition. "Did you make any plans before you decided to run away with me or was it a spur of the moment decision?"

She gave him a slightly guilty look. "No plans. Harry and Hermione wanted you far away from the demon things and the law enforcement so I decided to tag along. Especially since I couldn't explain why I was there or really how I got there. And as soon as I said I was going with you my senses approved so here we are."

He blinked and began scrutinizing her. "Your senses approved? Are you a magical creature or do you have any kind of special powers?"

Drat. If he didn't know she'd blow her secret identity, again. And even if he did know what a Slayer was, he wasn't supposed to know exactly who the Slayer was or where to find her.

"No, I'm not a magical creature. Yes, I have abilities. Don't ask. It's all very super-secret and very hush-hush."  
If he got it, he got it, and if he didn't then it was even better.

Much to her relief he just looked confused. She was good with that so she elaborated a little bit. "Sometimes I can sense if people are bad or have evil intentions, or if someone is trustworthy. It doesn't always work, but when it does it's of the awesome."

That part of her repertoire was pretty much hit-and-miss, but it had really worked to her advantage at times. Not often enough, but yeah.

Buffy chose to change the subject. "I don't need much sleep, but we should get to bed. You look like you might fall over at any minute." He gave her a long look but accepted her diversion and got up to show her where the bedrooms where. He chose the master bedroom for himself and gave her a large guestroom. If it had been made up in more lively colors her inner child would've been overjoyed.

There was a large double bed with a four corner canopy made in shades of green and placed against the opposite wall on a slightly raised dais. Sirius waved his wand and the skeets and everything else on the bed was changed. He wished her a good night and left.

She gave the rest of the room a once-over. There was a vanity, a sofa, a table, and two chairs. There was also a desk with what looked like a feathered quill in an inkbottle. All in some kind of dark wood. On the left side was a wardrobe covering about half of the wall. On the right was a window.

Shrugging she stripped out of her clothes and put on the very old-fashioned nightgown Sirius had placed on top of the covers and climbed up the two steps and into the bed. It turned out to be really comfortable.

The next day caused them a few problems. Neither of them had money and there was no food in the house for obvious reasons. The wizard conjured water and while it helped it did nothing for their hunger.

She gave the parlor a look and then turned to Sirius, "Your family is clearly wealthy. I don't suppose they have money stashed away somewhere? Or a relative or a domestic servant or whatnot who can get us something to eat? I'd rather not stoop so low as having to steal to survive."

Maybe she should've stayed at the school after all. At least there was food there and the students could sneak something for her...

It turned out he did have relatives but none he thought would be able or willing to help him. All his former friends thought he was a murderer and a criminal. But when she explained what a domestic servant was he suddenly stood up straight and barked out "Kreacher!"

A moment later a small creature about 3 feet tall with spindly arms and legs, and an overlarge head and tennis-ball-sized eyes popped into the room. It also had pointed, bat-like ears and small tufts of white hair on the top of its head. It was nude except for a dirty tea towel wrapped around the waist.

"Bad master called for Kreacher?" It said in a high squeaky voice, then it added in what it clearly thought was a whisper. "Bad master is back, oh, what would my poor mistress think?"

"Kreacher!" Sirius repeated in an annoyed tone. "Get us some properly prepared breakfast and don't tell anyone where you have been or who you have been with. Understood?"

"Yes, master. Of course, master. Kreacher understands." Then the little creature turned around to see who his master was referring to, and its large blue eyes got even bigger and it screamed in terror. The only movement it made was as it shook in fear.

Buffy just looked at it in confusion while trying to not bring her hands up and over her oversensitive ears. Then it dawned on her, the thing was a magical creature of some kind and she was a Slayer. A Slayer was a predator who hunted and killed bad things.

Straightening herself up a little she decided to try and talk her way out of this unexpected situation. "Have you done something bad, Kreacher?"

The large, terrified eyes stared at her for a few moments before it began shaking its head from side to side, causing its ears to flap around madly. "N-no, Slayer. Kreacher is a g-god elf."

"Are you planning to do something bad, either to me or to Sirius?"

Kreacher swallowed and then shook its head again. "No, Slayer. Kreacher would never try to hurt a Slayer."

"But you would hurt Sirius or help someone else to hurt him?" She narrowed her eyes at him. Or at least she thought it was a male. Calling the creature it, even in her own head seemed weird.

Kreacher swallowed and shook even more but didn't reply. "I want you to give me your word or whatever your equivalent is, that you are not going to harm either me or Sirius or Sirius's godson Harry, or Harry's friends. And I want you to do it right now."

Behind Kreacher, Sirius' confusion turned to shock, but he remained silent. They made eye contact over Kreacher's head and she shook her head lightly.

Kreacher gave the House-Elf version of his word and then he popped away, presumably to fetch food and to prepare it in the kitchen. She stared at the spot where he had disappeared from for a few seconds before looking up and meeting Sirius' eyes again.

Beating him to asking anything, she said. "What was that creature and why did he call you master?" She didn't really like what that implied. The explanation wasn't something she wanted to hear, but if the creature needed to be bonded to someone to keep both his life and his sanity there wasn't much she could do about it.

Sirius didn't allow her to think about the information for long before he wanted answers to his own questions. "What's a Slayer and why was he so terrified of you?"

"Um..." She hedged and the man across from her crossed his arms over his chest attempting to look threatening. It would've been if she hadn't been able to literally break him in two if she was so inclined.

"Stop trying to look threatening, it won't work on me." He just deepened the glare and she sighed and sat down. He followed suit but made it clear he still wanted to know.

"A Slayer, or a Vampire Slayer, is a girl gifted with enhanced strength and senses, fighting ability, agility and so on. We're Chosen to fight and kill vampires, demons, and other evil things. I don't know what a House-Elf is but it didn't come off as evil on my senses, so I don't really know why it was so afraid of me."

"Wouldn't that make you a magical?"

"I do have some magical abilities but I'm not a witch. My abilities are physical and mystical, but not really traditionally magical. I take it your culture doesn't teach anything about us?"

It would be very bad if they did since the Slayers were supposed to remain hidden and work in secret. People did find out about them on occasion, and word could easily get around. If if any entire community went looking for the one girl in all the world...

"No. At least not at Hogwarts. My family never said anything either." She let out a sigh of relief, and right after Kreacher popped back in and announced that breakfast was ready to be served. She got a reprieve, but she was certain he would continue to ask questions as soon as his hunger had been alleviated.


	6. Charades

**Disclaimer**: The Buffyverse belongs to Joss Whedon and HP belongs to J.K.R.  
**Author's Note**: Written for Day 16 of the 2019 August Fic-A-Day

On August 1st Buffy was standing on the doorstep of the most common house she had ever seen. It was nearly identical to every other house on both this street and the other streets she had passed to get there. The house was white with blue windowsills, just like almost all of the other houses. The lawn was recently mowed. The monotony was the kind of suburbian nightmare horror movies was made of.

The magical legal and banking system was some kind of weirdness that made no sense, but the upside to it was that Sirius could access his vaults at the wizarding bank. Or rather, Kreacher could access it on his master's behalf. The elf could also do other kinds of shopping, with permission.

Buffy had gotten the wizard to order the house-elf to withdraw normal money for them, and then she had taken the resisting man on a short shopping trip. They both needed time-appropriate clothing and other necessities. It couldn't be seen in the magical districts so that meant they had to move around in the non-magical ones.

They had been half-way through their shopping when she had gotten the idea that they could visit Harry and take him on a day trip somewhere. Thanks to the ability to Apparate, which had to be one of the most convenient things ever, they could go almost anywhere in Britain. That had led to a much happier wizard and the rest of their trip had gone smoothly.

She had an old-fashioned, floor-length traveling cloak wrapped around her to make her look like a witch but was wearing jeans with flaring pant legs and a tie-dyed t-shirt underneath. Beside her was Sirius Black in an outfit that might've been fashionable several centuries ago, but it gave off an air of wealth. He had used his wand to cut his long, straggly hair to about just over his shoulders. It was still in desperate need of some serious TLC, but there were more important things to accomplish. He was still gaunt-looking but Kreacher's cooking was helping him regain the weight he had lost.

It was 8 am, sharp. Buffy could hear a woman yelling shrilly at someone inside the house and a boy laughing gleefully. She wasn't certain how much the man beside her heard, but he took a small step forward and gave the door a couple of authoritative knocks. The people inside the house became silent and then a woman's footsteps could be heard approaching the door.

The two people outside straightened their backs and waited calmly for someone to open the door.

Sirius had given her more of a backstory on Harry's family after they had agreed to go there, so she was aware of their opinion and attitude towards magical people. How someone could willfully leave a magical child with people like that was beyond her, and it was even worse when once they were informed they still forced him to go back there. It was also the reason why they were both wearing cloaks rather than normal clothing.

A tall woman with blondish hair and blue eyes opened the door with what she seemed to think was a welcoming smile, but looked more like a painful grimace. Any pretense of politeness vanished when she realized what they were wearing.

"Good morning, Mrs. Dursley. My name Sirius Black and I am Harry Potter's godfather. May we speak to him, please?" His manners were perfectly polite but the horse-like woman steal screamed and nearly fainted. She swayed dangerously and the Slayer ended up having to catch her so she didn't end up in a graceless heap on the floor.

Sirius used the opportunity to get into the house as Buffy helped the increasingly angry woman into a chair in the living room. There was already a dangerously obese boy in there watching television, and a few moments later Harry turned up in the doorway into the kitchen.

"Sirius! Buffy! What are you doing here?"

Buffy smiled at the black-haired boy, but his godfather beat her to greet him. "Good morning, godson." He said formally in an uncharastically serious voice, but turned his head and winked discreetly. She repeated the greeting but in a much more informal way.

He turned toward the upset woman. "My most sincere apology for our entrance into your lovely home, Mrs. Dursley. We are merely here to inquire if we may take my godson out for the day?"

According to Sirius, he had only met Lily's sister once and it had not gone well. He had been 16 and in the possession of a belief that he was invincible and God's gift to women. He'd been slapped down, both verbally and physically. Neither of them had left the meeting with a good impression of the other.

Her reply was... nothing something that should be said in the vicinity of a couple of 13 years olds. Or anyone else for that matter. The argument went on for several minutes with Sirius being overly polite and Mrs. Dursley being quite rude. Her son joined in on several occasions and it became clear that her manner of expressing herself was common enough for him to emulate it.

They were eventually given permission to take Harry with them only after some vague threats. The entire thing was despicable and made Buffy want to call Child Protective Services or whatever the British equivalent was.

Harry ran and got his things, including the cloak that made the wearer invisible, and they left the house. They walked in silence until they reached a park which was thankfully free of people and got in between some threes some they wouldn't be visible from any of the houses or the road.

Sirius collapsed against a tree and declared "Bloody hell", with a lot of feeling. "Don't ever make me act like that again."

Beside them, Harry looked like he couldn't decide if he should be concerned or just laugh the entire thing off.

Buffy decided to help him out and grinned at the escapee, "It was your idea, so stop whining. Your godson has an entire day away from the bigots, let's do something about that instead."

Harry finally laughed. "I'm sure you could've done that with less theatrics or at least used different ones. I've already told them you escaped from the wizarding prison."

"Now you tell me," Sirius pretended to be wounded. "I was all prim and proper and now you tell me I could've gone in there and just threatened them."

"Awww, poor Sirius." Buffy's eyes were laughing. "If it helps, she did recognize you. Probably from those news segments you mentioned."

He gave her a sunny smile before switching his attention to the teenage boy. "You're free for the day, so where do you want to go?" As Harry opened his mouth he quickly added, "It has to be somewhere in the muggle world, since I'm supposedly an escaped criminal."

This should be fun!


	7. Fun at the Beach

**Disclaimer**: The Buffyverse belongs to Joss Whedon and HP belongs to J.K.R.  
**Author's Note**: Written for Day 18 of the 2019 August Fic-A-Day.  
**A/N 2**: I ran out of time so this ends a little abruptly. Sorry.

Sirius Apparated first Harry then Buffy from the park in Little Whinging and to a random city they had agreed on beforehand. Once everyone was there Sirius canceled the charm on his clothing and suddenly he was wearing jeans and a white t-shirt. Buffy's robe became a handkerchief, which she placed in one of her pockets.

Another wave of his wand and his hair was in a neat ponytail. A third wave and he had a magically applied tan as opposed to the pasty white skin he'd had before as a result of over a decade in Azkaban. It wouldn't hold up under close scrutiny, but the average person was unlikely to make the connection. She looked him over and declared he looked different enough to not get recognized as an escaped prisoner.

The time-traveler gave the teenage boy a thorough once-over and if she had looked at her friend she would've seen the look of approaching doom on his face. As it was, her attention was entirely on Harry.

"The first thing we need to do is get you some proper clothes. Those rags are not appropriate and are more likely to fit a baby elephant than you." And without listening to the complaints from Sirius at the prospect of another shopping trip so soon, she ushered them out of the alley they had landed in.

Forty minutes later they walked out of a clothing store with Harry wearing a properly fitting outfit for the first time since his parents were killed. He also had a bag with two other sets of clothing plus a few more sets of underwear and socks. The new apparel finally made him look like a kid enjoying his summer vacation.

Their next stop was an optician. They had to try several before they found one where they didn't need an appointment beforehand. As Harry wasn't sure how long he had had the pair of glasses he was wearing, they ordered a complete check of his eyes and were appalled when the woman who was performing the tests told them he should've had new glasses many years ago. The extra strain on his eyes had damaged his vision somewhat but she was hopeful it would correct itself.

On his own request, they also ordered contact lenses. Harry quietly told them he could really use them while playing something called Quidditch, especially if they had to play a game when it rained. Buffy looked confused about what was apparently some kind of game and Sirius looked equally confused regarding contact lenses as he had never heard of them. However, Buffy agreed as she was aware of how much of a pain glasses could be if you played any kind of contact sports, and Sirius followed her lead.

After Harry had chosen a new set of frames, wireless with dark red on the tips, they paid and agreed on when to come back for their purchases. She barely managed not to give the woman her phone number so she could text her when they were finished, but it was a close call. Cell phones in 1994 were big and clunky and not as widely available as they were in her own time. They were also not yet used for that kind of service.

As soon as they were out of the door her two male companions decided they were hungry and it was time for an early lunch. The meal was lively and as they had deliberately chosen a table with some privacy, enhanced by a little magical help, they could freely talk about topics not meant for eavesdroppers.

Buffy used the opportunity to get Harry to explain what Quidditch was and why contact lenses would be beneficial for it. His godfather also got his own explanation. She was treated to a very enthusiastic blow-by-blow of all of his games with Sirius interjecting with stories from his own time as a Quidditch player along with James - Harry's father.

Somehow they got from that and onto school subjects, and in particular what Harry's electives were.

"Ron and I decided to take Divination and Care of Magical Creatures." Harry said and then explained further, "We didn't really know which subjects to choose. CoMC seemed like a good idea since we never really know what we'll meet out there, and we just randomly chose Divination. Hermione decided to take everything, that's why she had the Time-Turner."

Buffy couldn't help but stare at that attempt at an explanation. Sirius looked pained. "What about the Potter Family business? You need Arithmancy and Ancient Runes to take over when you get older. You're the only one left!"

It soon became clear the boy had no idea about his family or their history, which nearly made his godfather cry. With a determined look in his eyes, Sirius promised to spend the rest of the summer teaching him about both and make sure he learned the two subjects as well. Albus Dumbledore's name was cursed on several occasions, making her opinion of the old man drop even lower.

Rather than hash everything out at the cafe where they were sitting, they agreed that Harry would spend six days a week with Sirius. The man would Apparate to Privet Drive to pick him up at 07.45 and then drop him back at the park at either 17:00 or 18.00 in the evening depending on the day.

They dropped the subject when they left the cafe and decided to head to the beach for a few hours. It was a warm day and after checking the weather forecast they picked the warmest one and off they went. A little transfiguration and they were all in the appropriate swimwear.

It turned out Harry couldn't swim and had never been to a beach or even seen the ocean, aside from a trip to a small island when his uncle was trying to outrun his Hogwarts Acceptance Letters. Buffy just shook her head at the dramatics of it all and the strangeness of someone living on a giant island never having seen the ocean. Instead of trying to make sense of it, she began teaching him the basics, starting with how to float.

Meanwhile, Sirius was having a marvelous time checking out the scenery, or rather the lovely bikini-clad women who were there. As he had explained before he wandered off, it was highly unusual for witches to expose themselves in such a manner. According to him, Lily, Harry's mother, had called them Victorian or just prudes. Buffy agreed but just waved him off and concentrated on the 13-almost-14-year-old boy in front of her.

Three hours later they left the beach tired but happy. They had swum in the ocean, played a few games with other beach-goers, and in Buffy's case, just relaxing on a big towel and working on her tan while the two males had a splashing contest in the water. They'd had ice-cream and generally enjoyed themselves.

Afterward, they went for a walk and eventually ended up at a restaurant where they had an early dinner. The topics were kept light and mostly consisted of Harry telling them about what he'd been up to at Hogwarts, and Sirius reciprocating with stories of his own time there. Buffy joined in with some stories from her own high school years but carefully censored them of anything Slayer-related. However, she did mention that she had a friend who was a werewolf and who had gone off to find himself and to try and find a way to control his inner beast.

It was nearly half-past five when they finally returned to the park at Privet Drive and they changed back into the outfits they had worn that morning. Sirius was back to being prim and proper in his old-fashioned robes and cloak, Buffy's handkerchief was transfigured back into a cloak, but Harry kept his new clothes. In a fit of being his old self, Sirius had set the old rags on fire shortly after leaving the clothing store.

There was a very uncomfortable conversation in the Dursley family's immediate future.


	8. Laying Down the Law

**Timeline**: BtVS: Post-the Gift & HP: Prisoner of Azkaban  
**Disclaimer**: The Buffyverse belongs to Joss Whedon and HP belongs to J.K.R.  
**Author's Note**: Written for Day 19 of the 2019 August Fic-A-Day.

Arriving outside Number Four, Sirius once again gave the door two authoritative knocks and then waited for someone to open it. This time the footsteps coming toward them were much heavier and the door was opened by an extremely obese man with a walrus mustache and small, pig-like eyes.

"Yes?" His eyes narrowed and he inhaled deeply, clearly gearing up to start yelling at them as soon as he saw the obviously magical outfits, but Sirius managed to beat him to it.

"Good evening, Mr. Dursley." Sirius greeted politely. "We're here to return your nephew. May we come in? There are a few things we need to discuss and I don't believe you'd want your neighbors to listen in on our conversation."

The large man opened and closed his mouth a few times but quickly considered his options and barked at them to get in. The elder wizard went first and headed straight for the living room where Petunia was sitting with her son. Harry followed right after and Buffy brought up the rear.

Once everyone had gotten comfortable Sirius began speaking. "As I told your wife this morning, my name is Sirius Black, and I am Harry's magically sworn godfather." He looked carefully at the other man for a reaction and noted him flinching both when he said 'magic' and when he said 'godfather'.

"If you're his godfather, then why didn't you take the boy when his parents got themselves killed?"

Giving a cold, ghost of a smile Sirius answered, "I was arrested for their murder three days after they were killed. I was incarcerated in Azkaban, the wizarding prison, until about a year ago when I escaped." His lips turned slightly upward, "As I understand it my mugshot was shown on muggle national television for several weeks after my escape."

All three of the Dursley's looked gratifyingly horrified at that announcement. It was all true, he just left out the part where he had been arrested and thrown into the prison without a trial. If there had been one, he would've been found innocent in no time.

"I should warn you, however, if you should become tempted to contact the muggle law enforcement. If you do, then I will not hesitate to inform them of your treatment of Harry. The physical abuse, the mental and verbal abuse, the long periods of starvation while locked in a small boot cupboard, and, of course, the money you have received for young Harry's upkeep but never used on him."

Petunia's expression had slid straight from horrified to terrified as he listed the more serious crimes they had committed against a small child in their care. Her husband was becoming increasingly purple in the face and clearly getting ready to tell him exactly what he thought of Sirius' threats.

"I don't know how much Lily or James ever told you about the Potter family, but they are quite wealthy and Harry is the only heir. I also know for a fact that you are given a large amount of money every month for Harry's upkeep. Yet when we arrived here this morning, he was wearing much too large hand-me-downs. Given the size of the clothing and the size of your son, it's quite obvious where they came from.

"You, your husband, and your son are all wearing clothing which is clearly rather new and of good quality, so why isn't my godson wearing the same kind of clothing? Why wasn't he given breakfast?"

Sirius narrowed his eyes dangerously and first stared Petunia right in the eyes and then Vernon. "Why is Harry malnourished and his growth stunted? Why does he have bruises on his back the same size as a man's boot?"

Petunia's eyes were large and darted anywhere but at Sirius and Buffy. Buffy, while a small and harmless looking young woman, was able to give off an aura of menace and danger befitting her apex predator status.

The financial part of this was something Sirius and Gringotts had worked out. At first, Kreacher had gone back and forth as a middleman or middle-elf, but it hadn't taken long for the Gringotts' goblins to demand he make a personal appearance at the bank. Having nothing better to do with her time, she had tagged along.

The goblins, like the Kreacher, had looked terrified, but to be fair to the goblins' they had masked their fear much better and treated her with the utmost respect and honor as she hadn't shown them any hostility. Her presence had ensured their business was done quickly and efficiently. Unsurprisingly, Sirius had insisted she come along to all of the meetings from that point.

"We will be taking Harry to a Healer tomorrow to ascertain what kind of damage you have done to him and if it is possible to restore him to full health, or if the damage you've done to him is permanent. You will fit the bill, no questions asked as it is your fault."

The look he gave them promised pain and suffering if they didn't comply. "You will also pay him back all the money you have stolen from him since you began receiving benefits for him back in November 1981. In addition, you will also pay back the money you have received in child's benefits from the muggle government for the same reason."

It escalated straight into a screaming match from there, but rather than get involved Buffy decided to observe the two teenage boys instead. Harry was sitting quietly beside her on the couch paying rapt attention to the adults, while Dudley was in a chair more or less directly in front of the TV. He had turned it around when the conversation became more interesting to him, but despite looking like he wanted to say something he kept glancing toward the visible handle of Sirius' wand. It was kept in a holster on his forearm and he had very deliberately hiked up the hems just enough for the piece of wood to be visible.

Buffy had used another one of the Black family wands to hold up part of her hair, so the boy hadn't noticed it. His mother had seen it though but wisely hadn't commented before they had all sat down. The wand didn't exactly work for her, but it wasn't entirely useless either. They were still experimenting.

The yelling stopped abruptly and Buffy looked away from the boys and toward the three 30-something people on her other side. She rewound the last part of their conversation and realized Sirius had just elaborated on his threat of taking their crimes to the police.

It wasn't surprising that they were protesting, as from what she'd gotten from the meetings at Gringgotts the monthly sum they had received from his Trust Vault equaled 1,000 pounds or about 1,300 USD from he was left there and until he turned five. When he began school it was raised to 2,000 pounds. It had been raised again twice after that, the last time was when he turned eleven and should've prepared to go to Hogwarts.

Math wasn't her thing, but she was pretty certain they owed the child several hundred thousand pounds at this point. Even if they had put half of it in a savings account they would be spending years paying back the amount they had already used. Plus whatever they had gotten from the government, plus the hospital bills, and quite a few other things she knew Sirius would be forcing them to pay for.

Somehow, she was certain that Dudley Dursley's pampered lifestyle would get a very abrupt end today. If his parents didn't do as they were told, then they would have to face the consequences.

"I have for obvious reasons stopped all payments from Harry's Trust Vault and to your bank account, as it is painfully obvious they have not been used on the correct recipient. From now on you will be paying all of his expenses; food, clothing, hygiene products, school material, and so on. You will use the same amount of money on Harry as you do on your son. You will also procure proper furniture for his bedroom and a full set of muggle clothing for the next school year. I will be supplying pocket money."

"You will provide a step-by-step account of what you have been spending Harry's money on. I expect to have it in two weeks' time. Once I get it and have reviewed it, we will be talking about how you're going to repay your debt." That part had been Buffy's idea, as Sirius hadn't known how meticulous these things could be in the normal world. Apparently, most people in the magical world blindly trusted the goblins to do their accounting for them and didn't double-check.

The 'meeting', if you could call it that, went on for another hour and a half before they left. Sirius, with the occasional input from Buffy, lay down the new law regarding how they could and couldn't treat their nephew.

Albus Dumbledore had placed Harry in this household, but either he had never been back to check on him or this is how the old man wanted the child hero to be treated. Neither option spoke well of the wizard.

They departed with a warning of what would happen if any of them abused Harry in any way. With Buffy adding a special warning to the youngest Dursley, "Dudley, this applies to you, too. If you bully Harry, hit him, beat him, or allow anyone else to do it. Then I will be the one choosing your punishment and overseeing that it gets done. Do you understand?"

She allowed some of her Slayer aura to bleed through, not enough to completely terrify him but enough for him to understand she was serious and that the consequences would be unpleasant. The two elder Dursley's shivered as the power flowed around them and Sirius got goosebumps.

He agreed, more out of fear than actual agreement but she'd take it. If he behaved then nothing bad would happen to him. It was that simple.

***

Buffy went straight to change when they returned to the Black Summer Home. Reemerging in sweatpants and a tank top she simply told the man she needed to burn off some excess energy. She walked out of the door, but as soon as it was closed she began what was to her an easy jog but a sprint to anyone else. As soon as she had warmed up her muscles she sped up and went for a very long and very fast run.

The better option would've been to go on a patrol and fight vampires until she felt better, but they were pretty much in the middle of nowhere and nothing popped on her Slaydar so that left her with running. She wasn't at the point yet where she would be willing to ask her host to Apparate her to a cemetery somewhere, but it was only a matter of time.

It was times like these when she could practically hear Faith's voice in her head talking about fighting and sex, and how it was all five by five. With no vampires and with Sirius as the only male company, there just weren't any viable options. Not that Faith would've had her reservation about the wizard, but they had very different outlooks.

The time running was spent thinking and just going over everything. The Gringotts situation wasn't entirely solved yet but it would be soon, Sirius needed a trial so they could get Harry away from his relatives for good without getting the magical government after them. She needed to figure out if her stay in the past was temporary, if there was something she needed to do so she could get back, or if she had to take the scenic route home. If it was the latter then she needed a fake identity and a job, if she was going home soon she could just stay with Sirius who had told her she could live with him as long as she wanted.

When she returned to the property several hours later she was sweaty, comfortably exhausted, but feeling much better about herself. As she cooled down she stretched her sore muscles to ensure nothing would cramp or display any displeasure with her later. She also did a few Tai Chi katas before she went inside to shower and crawl into bed.


	9. Summer School

Buffy and Sirius, with some input from Harry, set a schedule for the teenager's 'Summer School'. Sirius Apparated to Privet Drive at 07:45 every weekday and played magical taxi for his godson. Then the two of them would spend two-three hours in one of the studies going over Wizarding Etiquette, Magical Politics, and the Potter and Black family history. Then there was a break for lunch. Afterward, Sirius would run Harry through everything he had learned at Hogwarts so far to make sure he knew it inside and out.

Then it was Buffy's turn as she decided he needed to do something physical, which worked well with Sirius' intention of teaching him meditation both for the sake of learning Occlumancy and because he wanted to teach the boy to become an animal. Or maybe it was to find his inner animal, she wasn't entirely certain. The elder of the three also joined in as he needed the exercise. She eased them into it with a very basic kata from the Tai Chi lessons she had gotten from Angel several years before. It wasn't nearly as fun or romantic, but despite everything, it felt good.

The 'school day' ended with lessons on Arithmancy, which Buffy stayed far away from once she realized it involved equations, and Ancient Runes, which she insisted on taking part in. Much to her surprise, she was able to read part of it due to all the study parties they'd had in the Sunnydale High School Library and later on at the Magic Box. It turned out she had absorbed a lot more knowledge than she'd originally thought.

Depending on the day, Sirius would return his godson to his relatives at 17:00 or 18:00 each evening. Saturdays were spent on whatever fun thing they could think of, but he had to spend Sunday at his relatives home.

Some days she sat in one the morning lessons, other days she went for a long run instead. Or she practiced Tai Chi, fighting techniques, or even the boring stuff Giles and Merrick had made her do to keep herself in tip-top shape. While Harry was going through his spellwork and potion-making skills, Buffy would be in the same room attempting some very basic magical spells with the wand that had reacted best to her.

In all fairness, it wasn't a particularly good match so even the few spells she managed to do didn't work well. Case in point, she was able to cast the Lumos Charm but it was weak and only lit up a very small area with a dull light. It a fit of annoyance she accidentally set a table on fire on the fifth day, much to Harry's merriment.

The first thing Harry had said when his godfather told him they would be practicing spells was "What about the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery? I'm 14, not 17."

The answer was a long lecture on the inequality of how magical children were raised, but in a nutshell; if a family used a certain kind of wards around their home then the Ministry wouldn't be notified. Naturally, nearly all of the old families used them and those of non-magical descent or from the newer magical lines had to obey the law or face the consequences unless they knew a pureblood who was willing to spill the secret.

This schedule worked until August 23rd when Harry received a letter from his friend Ron, who invited him to something called the World Quidditch Cup which would be held in Britain this year. Sirius approved his wish to go with the caveat that he would bring his dog. Buffy would tag along wearing the Invisibility Cloak.

Things at the cup got a lot more exciting than expected but they were all back at the Burrow the day after the match without any damages. As Dumbledore had deemed it safe for Harry to move out of the Dursley home and into the Burrow, Sirius decided it was time for Harry to move in with him instead for the remaining six days before they left for the Hogwarts train.

According to Sirius, there were more wards on the summer home than on the average magical dwelling, so there was no reason for Dumbledore to complain. It also helped that no one knew where the Black family's summer residence was located. Unless he wanted Harry under the watchful eye of the Weasley matriarch rather than with his godfather and the potential things he could learn there.

Harry invited his friends to come and stay with them, but it wasn't until Sirius made a throwaway comment about lessons that Hermione decided she would stay with them rather than with the Weasley's. Apparently, it was fun to stay in a magical home, but the girl loved to learn so it was no contest. Not really.

Ron, of the flaming red hair and long gangly limbs, attempted to tag along as well but was blocked by his mother who didn't deem Sirius to be safe or accepted company for her youngest son. Which was a fair enough assessment, given the situation, but it didn't mean the boy took the rejection with grace. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Buffy spent her time waiting for the wizard making sure that none of the Weasley's could alert Dumbledore while everything was being put in place. In fact, she had great fun hiding the Floo Powder while the family was busy looking elsewhere. It made all of them run around the small living room searching for the small container. When Mrs. Weasley decided she wanted to write a letter to the old wizard instead, she snatched the paper out of her hand and then her wand. The resulting scream hurt her eardrums.

A few minutes later she had Mr. Weasley's wand along with the wands of three of the sons. Being in a mischievous mood, she left the wands in random places where they were visible but easy to overlook. One ended up in a potted plant, one in a box of kitchen utensils, another was placed on a windowpane, and the last in the umbrella stand by the front door.

Buffy grinned to herself, Harry had told her about the Weasley twins, Fred and George, and how they considered themselves to be pranksters. The boy seemed to find it entertaining, while the red-headed family did not. Then again, there was no reason to alert the principal of Harry's school. Harry's whereabouts didn't concern him during the holidays.

Permission for Hermione was obtained by Sirius Apparating the two of them to her parents home while Harry and a still hidden Buffy waited at the Burrow. Somehow, the man ended up inviting the two dentists over for dinner the next day. It was a very kind gesture, but then again he was a complete stranger to them. Of course, perhaps they wanted both to see a magical home and spend some more time with their only child.

Once the Granger's agreed, their daughter was Apparated to the Black Summer Home before he went back for Harry at the Burrow. Buffy, being invisible, had to walk away from the magical property so no one would know she had ever been there.

She threw the magical fabric off of herself as soon as they returned, causing Hermione to startle at the sudden reappearance of a woman she had probably expected to have gone home long ago. Buffy meanwhile, chose to reintroduce herself.

"Hello, again. I'm Buffy, we met at that magical school of yours a few months ago. We didn't really get the chance to meet properly then so... Hi."

Blinking a little, the brunette fell back on old lessons. "Hello, my name is Hermione." She looked between Buffy and Sirius, "Have you been living here with him the entire time?"

"Yes, we've been busy trying to fix your friend's life and stuff his head with some extra knowledge. We have also done some sigh-seeing."

That was apparently enough to get the girl started on a whole litany of questions regarding what they were teaching her friend and how soon the next lesson was. Buffy was more interested in dinner and hearing their version of the World Cup events, so she ushered Hermione into the dining room where hopefully all of their questions would be answered.


	10. Eavesdropping

**Timeline**: BtVS: Post-the Gift & HP: Goblet of Fire.  
**Disclaimer**: The Buffyverse belongs to Joss Whedon and HP belongs to J.K.R.  
**Author's Note**: Written for Day 24 of the 2019 August Fic-A-Day.

After the two teenagers had gone to bed for the night, the two adults were down in one of the studies where they had gotten into the habit of conversing in the evenings before going to bed themselves. Once they were certain Harry and Hermione were actually in their respective beds and not chatting about whatever in Harry's room, they finally relaxed.

Sirius handed Buffy the magical newspaper and a large, bold headline screamed 'PROMINENT PUREBLOODS ARRESTED FOR DEATH EATER ACTIVITY AT QUIDDITCH WORLD CUP' at her. Below the headline was a picture of five men tied to five separate trees. Each of them was dressed in black robes with a hood. Each of them had a mask on their lap with snake-like eye slits and an original pattern to separate them from all the others.

The man in the middle was aristocratic with long, white-blond hair and a sneer on his face. The rest of the group were rather non-descript in comparison, but she guessed they were all probably someone in the insular community since the paper seemed to be particularly upset about the scene.

She raised an innocent eyebrow at her friend and he stared back. "Something you want to tell me? You appear to have left out a few parts..."

"They were doing nasty things to the people at the camping site so I decided to teach them a lesson. I didn't hurt them, much." She had actually taken great care to be gentle with them as they were human and more likely to sustain permanent damage if she wasn't careful. Truth be told, their ego had taken the brunt of it.

"I just snatched them and tied them up, so your law enforcement can do their things and lock them up."

Sirius lost it and collapsed in his chair laughing after having cast some sort of spell on the ceiling. Buffy just kind of stared at him until he regained his composure. "What? What's so funny about that?" The wizard was strange, probably due to PTSD, but an explanation would be of the good right about now.

"Sorry. It's just." He laughed again but quickly got control of himself. "The man in the middle is Lucius Malfoy. He's married to one of my cousins, and also a high-level Death Eater." Sirius thought a little and then added, "He's also the father of the student who tried to get Buckbeak executed."

Buffy nodded, it kinda explained his reaction, both to the newspaper and her explanation.

"He's probably out already though. The bloody wanker has a slippery tongue and a lot of gold."

She frowned at him, "He can just pay someone off and they'll let him go without even questioning him and the people who were present if they saw him there?"

"He's a filthy rich pureblood with a lot of dirt on people, so yes. That's how he always gets away. It doesn't really matter how flimsy his excuses might be, gold is a great motivator to get people to do what you want." He got more comfortable and continued. "In this case, all he would have to say is that someone took his cloak and replaced it with a black hooded one, tied him up, and put a mask in his lap. He's been paying off the Minister for Magic since he got into politics, so unless you can get an equally wealthy pureblood to testify against him or a lot of people see him commit a crime then he'll keep walking.

After some consideration, he said disgustedly, "Even then, he would probably claim the Imperius Curse again or that someone used Polyjuice so they could blame him."

Sirius spent a good half hour explaining everything to her, but the good thing about it all was that Lucius Malfoy's reputation had gotten a dent. Not to mention that there was no doubt he would be a laughing stock due to the photograph on the front page.

"Are you going to show the paper to the teens tomorrow? If Malfoy, Jr. goes to their school they're going to find out. Something like this won't be kept quiet, and with several hundred students returning from summer vacation, it's guaranteed to be discussed at some point."

It was Sirius' turn to frown, which probably meant he had at least thought about it. "I'll show it to them after breakfast, it should work well as an example of how magical politics work."

Buffy nodded. There would probably be a follow-up to the article in the morning, but she decided to leave them to it. She'd had enough of corrupt politicians with the ascension attempt a few years back.

***

The next morning was spent on a long run before anyone else was even beginning to wake up. Breakfast was lively with two teenagers present and the following lesson on politics even more so. It was interesting in a surreal way, but still, as the 'class' ended and Sirius prepared to begin the lesson on family history Buffy asked to be transported to Diagon Alley.

She'd been there a few times already, but there was something very fascinating about it and how incredibly old-fashioned it was. It was like someone has stuck it inside a time capsule and forgotten about it. Still, it was shopping and Buffy loved to shop.

Sirius gave her a bag of money and a list of things they needed before he threw Harry's Invisibility Cloak over himself and took her arm and Apparated her to the Apparition Point just inside the Alley. It was barely ten in the morning, but there were already crowds of people milling about doing their shopping. Her magical taxi driver told her when he would pick her up and then Disapparated.

Buffy smiled in the general direction of all the people. The people at the Summer House were great, but she was a social person and needed time with more than just them. Thanks to her earlier trips she had gotten friendly with one of the young women working in a clothing/robe shop called Madam Malkin's, so every time she visited the Alley she dropped by for a few minutes.

However, shopping wasn't the only reason she was there. If it had been, then Sirius would've just sent Kreacher and been done with it. The main shopping district was also an excellent place to pick up gossip. Given her enhanced senses, she didn't even have to get close to whoever she wanted to eavesdrop on. All she had to do was go about as normal and listen to the various conversations. It didn't matter if she was standing right beside the people talking or if they were much further down the street, both were just as clear to her.

Most of it was normal, everyday things like exchanging news about family members or friends, discussing which ingredients they needed for whatever potion, who was dating who, complaints about the government, and so on. But she had heard a few interesting things. Most notably there was something they were organizing, and it seemed like whatever it was would take place at Hogwarts.

Everything seemed to circle back to the school. These people were obsessed with which House you were Sorted into and then judged you by that House for the rest of your life. The Time-Turner Hermione had used to go three hours back in time to save Buckbeak and Sirius had somehow collided with the portal Glory had used Dawn to open in an attempt to get home to her Hell dimension. Wormtail had hidden at Hogwarts. The principal also had two major political positions, and that should've been illegal as there was no way he could do justice to all of them.

As she walked away from the Apparition Point she took a right and went into one of the first shops. It was an Apothecary. Sirius had given her a list of ingredients he needed to test Harry's and Hermione's skills, as apparently the teacher was someone he had gone to school with and there was some kind of rivalry there. Harry had also called him a terrible professor.

The shop was empty except for her, so she made some bland small talk as the assistant found what she needed and then shrank the purchases for her. The same thing happened in the cauldron shop across the street.

A little farther down she took a left and went into Eeylops Owl Emporium where she bought own treats for Hedwig, Harry's beautiful snowy owl. The shop was interesting but all the contradicting smells played havoc with her sense of smell. All the animals expressing themselves loudly didn't make it a good place to gather news either.

She skipped the stationery shop and went straight for Flourish & Blotts across the street a little further down. It seemed Harry's book collection wasn't up to Sirius' standards, and after checking which books Hermione had he decided she needed a few more as well. The stack she ended up with made her really, really thankful there were such things as shrinking spells and bottomless bags or it would've been a little difficult to explain how she was able to carry it all.

A little curious she put her books on the desk and took a look around for herself. She wasn't much of a reader, but a few of them looked interesting so she bought them. There wasn't much to do at the Summer House in between lessons, so some reading would hopefully alleviate her boredom a little.

Buffy looked at her wristwatch, she still had about 40 minutes left so she entered Madam Malkin's Robes For All Occasions which was located right beside the bookshop. Her friend or acquaintance was busy helping someone so she just smiled at the woman and sat down in one of the chairs.

This shop had more people in it and they were chatting about everything from the robes and cloaks they were trying on to the Malfoy Scandal. She grinned to herself, it seemed no one in that family were particularly well-liked. Lucius was a snob and a criminal, his son had a reputation for trying his best to emulate his father and using him as leverage to get whatever he wanted, and the wife thought herself better than anyone else.

It was possible their reaction was nothing more than these people trying to distance themselves from the Malfoy's, but their opinions seemed to match what she'd heard that morning.

It wasn't until about twenty minutes later that someone finally gave her something she could use. Dumbledore had managed to revive an old inter-school tournament called the Tri-Wizard Tournament and it was going to be held at Hogwarts. The two other schools were called Beauxbatons and Durmstrang.

That was all she was able to hear before one of the people holding the conversation left the shop, and Buffy gave the man's back an annoyed look. It was more information than she'd had before and with any luck, Sirius knew more or could find more if he didn't.

Soon after her friend had a few minutes to spare and they spoke for a few moments and agreed to meet up in a couple of days for tea/coffee. Then she had to go and meet up with Sirius so he could take her back.


	11. School Supplies

Timeline: BtVS: Post-the Gift & HP: Goblet of Fire.  
Disclaimer: The Buffyverse belongs to Joss Whedon and HP belongs to J.K.R.  
Author's Note: Written for Day 27 of the 2019 August Fic-A-Day.

They spent Thursday shopping in the normal world for Harry's and Hermione's back-to-school supplies. The Granger's had already completed theirs but agreed to come along so they could spend more time with their daughter. Harry, on the other hand, needed just about everything and suffered through several hours of shopping for clothes and shoes. All he had were the few outfits they had bought for him the first day, but now they were replacing his entire wardrobe. Including buying things that were several sizes too large, knowing that the potions the Healer had given Harry meant he'd grow a lot over the next year.

The teenager suffered through it and even managed to find a cheerful mood, knowing all of it meant he would finally be able to wear something other than his robes at Hogwarts. He didn't say it, but it was clear it had been a source of embarrassment for him. It would also be an entire year until the next time he would have to go through it.

Buffy decided they needed something else to write on and with, aside from the parchment and quills. It was more work than it should be, and taking notes during lessons could get messy even without spilling ink on what you'd written. Which meant he got a good quantity of spiral notebooks, both in the lined, unlined, and grids variety. She also made sure he had a few sketchbooks, just in case he knew how to draw or wanted to doodle something. Or make paper airplanes or swans, or something entirely different. Then they moved on to writing implements and other related material, and Harry and Hermione both went a little wild.

They also got some reference books and dictionaries, more because Hermione had a brainwave than actually needing them. On Sirius' insistence, they also browsed the fiction section for some light reading. Not everything was about studying, after all.

By the time they left the shop, it looked like they were shopping for 10 or 15 kids instead of two. If they needed more then Hedwig would be getting some exercise, they were all sure she'd appreciate it. Eyeing the pile made her reconsider it, the owl would probably have to settle for regular letters.

After they left the shop they ducked into an alley so Sirius could shrink and pocket all of their purchases, but there, on a trashcan, were two annoyed-looking owls. Both of whom barked in a manner that seemed to ask, where have you been? We've been waiting for *forever*. Buffy had no idea birds could be that expressive.

While the Slayer was contemplating the owls' communication skills, the two teenagers had gone over to them to relieve them of their letters, and as soon as their mission was completed they took off. Both of the kids and Sirius ducked away to avoid the feathery appendages. Buffy was thankfully a little too far away for their wingspan to reach her.

Hermione managed to open hers first and exclaimed happily, "It's our booklists!" Turning to her parents she asked, "Can we go to Diagon Alley and get them?" Buffy met Harry's eyes behind her back and smiled at the boy, this was exactly what he'd told her would happen. The girl really was a lot like Willow, just more confident than her friend had been at that age. She was also more prone to lecturing than babbling.

The Granger's denied her request, much to her disappointment, but promised they would all go the next day as they had agreed upon during their first dinner. Instead, they went for an early dinner and then Sirius Apparated them home, before returning everyone else to their current base.

Back at the house, Sirius decided it was early enough they could do some catch-up on their homeschooling and they all sat down to learn more about the mysteries of the Ancient Runes. It made her long for some of Giles' old dusty tomes to try out her new knowledge on, and she would never, ever tell the man that.

***

The next day went in a similar manner, except Sirius accompanied them in his Animagi form so he was unable to make many contributions to their shopping. They accompanied the Granger's to Gringotts first so they could exchange pounds for galleons, and then they were off. Kreacher had already gotten money from the Black Family Vault.

The elf had also gotten them the Daily Prophet and as Sirius had predicted, Lucius Malfoy had been released due to 'evidence' of his supposed innocence. Three of his fellow terrorists had also been let go, but the last one had been charged and would have to face the magical legal system. The front page also announced that there was a monetary award to whoever helped ensure that the person who tied up the 'upstanding purebloods' was brought to justice.

The article inside praised the apparent awesomeness that was Lucius Malfoy and his friends while condemning anyone who tried to imply anything different. At the same time, they were completely ignoring that was exactly what the paper had done two days prior. Buffy rolled her eyes. At least she hadn't been seen thanks to the invisibility cloak, so that was of the good. It was a pity the 'upstanding citizen' didn't have a car and tires she could slash open. Not that she would ever do that, but she could think it.

A more thorough read-through of the paper revealed that Mr. Malfoy had given a substantial amount of money to something called St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. Imagine how very convenient that was...

The first stop of the day after getting money was Madam Malkin's, and Buffy got to chat with her friend again as the witch helped Harry and Hermione with their purchases. School robes were easy enough, they were black and very basic. Sirius butted in, however, and insisted on a much more high-quality fabric than the boy had had before. Harry obviously didn't care but agreed easily enough so as to not draw attention to them taking advice from a large dog. There was a new edition to their list this year though: dress robes.

When Buffy had come back with the news that the TriWizard Tournament had been revived and that it was going to be held at Hogwarts this year, she had been met with three blank faces. A few hours of research had revealed that it was a tournament between magical schools, traditionally the three competing schools were Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Durmstrang Institute, and Beauxbatons Academy of Magic. A champion would be selected from each school and they would then compete against each other in three tasks spaced evenly throughout the school year. It was designed to test magical ability, intelligence, and courage.

In theory, it was a good chance to develop friendships and forge political contacts in other countries, but according to the books on the tournament, it was renowned for being extremely dangerous and had been discontinued around 1792 due to many of the champions dying during the tasks. It didn't seem like it was something worth starting up again, especially since war was brewing in Britain.

After Buffy had gotten the digest's version of Harry's first three years at Hogwarts, she agreed that the chance of him not being chosen as the Hogwarts champion was negligible. Sirius had reacted by teaching the kids more obscure spells that were not taught at the school. He also crammed his head with other information and not always on topic. Buffy had added self-defense to her Tai Chi-lessons. If nothing else, Harry might be able to use the meditation to calm himself and stay focussed.

Harry got a set of dress robes in a shade of green that made him look very handsome, and it reminded Buffy that while he was currently younger than her he was actually six months older. It was a surreal thought to have while she was standing in the magical quarter of London, helping a teen pick out what was essentially a dress he was going to wear at a formal ball right before Christmas.

Once they were done, Buffy said her goodbyes to her friend and they went two shops down to Flourish & Blotts' to get the school books. Harry had been especially happy to see that the Deputy Headmistress had allowed him to attend the Fourth Year Ancient Runes and Arithmancy classes on a preliminary basis, given that he passed a test once they were back at Hogwarts. The test shouldn't be a problem, as he was doing very well despite only having started the subject recently.

They got the school books, and Hermione got a few extra ones for 'light' reading and then they moved on to the stationary shop next door. Buying parchment and ink didn't take long and they soon crossed the Alley and entered a trunk shop squeezed in between Eeylops Owl Emporium and another shop.

Sirius had demanded that Harry needed a properly magical trunk with several rooms so his trunk wouldn't be such a mess. Buffy had silently agreed, both because she had seen the mess that was his current trunk and because she wanted to see what the man had been rambling about. It turned out that the multiple compartments worked by inserting a different key into a different keyhole to open each of the compartments.

After some back and forth and quite a few comments from Hermione, he ended up with a trunk that had four separate compartments. One was for books and other school supplies (including a separate space for potion ingredients), one was for his magical broom and his Quidditch equipment, one was for clothes and toiletries, and the last was for whatever else he wanted to store in there.

Hermione also insisted he needed a bookbag since the one he'd been using was close to ripping at the seams. Harry found one he liked, and like everything else it was bigger on the inside and a comfortable weight on his shoulder.

Buffy was looking at the things in wonder while simultaneously wincing at the price tags. Sirius had been incredibly generous, but there was no way she would ever ask him to spend that much on her, no matter how much she wanted it. It did remind her she needed to get an identity and job though, as it didn't seem like whatever had dumped her in '90's Britain had any intention of returning her to 2001 California.

Shaking her head, she paid for the trunk using Sirius' galleons and they made the last few errands before eating dinner in the Alley with the Granger's. They had a great time and agreed to keep in contact during the school year, so Genevieve and Elias Granger wouldn't be so cut off from everything that went on in the magical world. Their daughter was 15 and would probably claim that any events that happened during the school years were a lot less dangerous than they had actually been. It was a concept Buffy herself was highly familiar with both as a teenage girl and as the Slayer.

Hermione went home with her parents to spend the last weekend with them before school began, and they agreed to meet at Kings Cross Station for breakfast at 9 a.m. on 1st September. It would give them ample time to eat properly beforehand, chat a little, and not stress about getting to the Hogwarts Express in time for departure.

Buffy, Harry, and Sirius returned to the Black Summer House for one last weekend together, and cram in a few more lessons, a little more fun, and to make plans and backup plans for whatever would happen next. The Tournament was an obstacle, but it might come in useful as a distraction if they managed to get a trial for Sirius. Or possibly use their foreign guests as a way to force a trial. Having a man spend 12 years in Azkaban without a trial would make Britain look terrible in front of the two visiting school and their countries...


	12. Estimated Time of Departure

Timeline: BtVS: Post-the Gift & HP: Goblet of Fire.  
Disclaimer: The Buffyverse belongs to Joss Whedon and HP belongs to J.K.R.  
Author's Note: Written for Day 29 of the 2019 August Fic-A-Day.

The last weekend before Harry started his Fourth Year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was spent doing a mixture of more classes, more extra tuition on topics that might come in handy if Harry was forced into the Tournament, and having some last-minute fun and relaxing before it was back to the Castle. The experience was an odd one for Buffy, who was still a college student in her own time and should've been preparing to go back to school herself.

Instead of continuing her own education she was essentially playing mother to a teenage boy who was actually six months older than herself, while they were both staying with a man who wasn't entirely mentally stable after having spent more than a decade with nothing more than his own worst memories and feelings as company. She tried not to think about it.

Over the last two months, she had come to the conclusion it was better if she trusted Sirius with at least part of her secret. Which was why she had told him she was a time traveler from the year 2001. She had very carefully left out the part about the homesick Hellgoddess and her own attempted suicide by interdimensional portal to save her sister and the world, making it seem like the aim had simply been to get from point A to point B.

Despite their many endeavors to find anything that might shed a light on why she ended up in the past had failed, as did their attempts to figure out a possible motive for her to be sent to the past, or how to get her home. All of which meant she was back to scratch. It all probably meant she would have to live all of the years between 1994 and 2001 before rejoining her sister and her friends.

Unless the reason for her presence in the past had something to do with either Sirius or Harry. She helped save Sirius from the soul-eating demons, but he was still a fugitive despite never having had a day in court. Harry appeared to be a likely candidate to participate in a competition who had a long record of ending with one or more dead champions. Although how she was supposed to help with that she didn't know.

There were some bright points though. After a little digging around, some snooping, and Sirius playing magical taxi, she had been able to find Giles. He was working as a curator at the British Museum just as Willow had told her when they first met at Sunnydale High. By following him around for a few days she was able to see him meet up with someone from the Watcher's Council and quietly conversing about the current Slayer.

She was never mentioned by name, but Buffy knew from her own conversations with Giles that her name had been India Cohen. India had been Chosen in 1993 and it had been her death in 1996 that had turned Buffy from a Potential Slayer and into an Active Slayer. It meant that the other girl was 16 and had less than two years to live. It was a sobering thought.

Having confirmed that both Giles and the Watcher's Council existed, it meant she was most likely in her own reality - just in the wrong year. It was more difficult to figure out if she herself and her family existed though. In 2001 she could've gone to an internet cafe and done a quick search and gotten her answer, but given how limited the internet was in '94 she decided it wasn't worth trying.

There was the option to make an international phone call to her family's old landline, but what if her younger self answered? All the sci-fi movies Xander had made them watch over the years seemed to indicate that having any contact with another version of yourself could have catastrophic consequences. Maybe if she made Sirius do the talking and she was somewhere else where she couldn't hear the conversation?

Or call during the day when she was in classes... No, wait. Buffy still sounded like herself and that could potentially have bad consequences for her younger self. She sighed, any phone calls to her family would have to be made by someone else, either Sirius or Harry.

Buffy pushed it out of her mind, it was stupidly early on September First and she was out on her usual morning run. The house was getting closer and closer so she slowed down some for the cool-down. The two wizards were warming up outside for their own morning run. It had taken some effort, but she had managed to convince them it was good for their health, both physically and mentally.

Harry had been playing an extreme sport for several years, so his body was used to exercise even if it hadn't been running. Sirius, on the other hand, was not doing well. It appeared that exercise was not something magical people did unless they a) played Quidditch, b) was magical law enforcement or c) were on the professional dueling circuit.

What it meant was that the two wizards started off together but Harry always ended up running ahead once he was properly warmed up. The teenager also ran for longer, while Sirius never managed to run for long. Usually, he would run for a short stretch, then walk for some time, then run again.

Buffy greeted the two and then went inside the house for her morning shower and other morning rituals while she had the house to herself. When they returned, she led them through a few katas before they took their turn in the shower.

After that it was a very light breakfast, making sure Harry had packed everything, and a final lesson on family history before Sirius Apparated them to Kings Cross Station at ten minutes to nine.

The three Granger's were already waiting for them when they arrived at the pre-arranged meeting place, and they walked the short distance to the cafe after greeting each other. Hermione was happy and relaxed as were her parents, even if the latter were slightly worried. Presumably about sending their daughter away again to somewhere they would never be able to go or even see.

As soon as the young witch saw Harry she began happily talking about her weekend and what she'd been doing with her parents. Then segued straight into a question, "Did you get a letter from Ron? He sent me several and told me Errol wouldn't even try to leave if he tied a letter to you to his leg. He also tried to send me several while I was staying with you and the same thing happened."

She drew a quick breath and then turned to Sirius before Harry even got a chance to try and answer. "Is there a mail ward on your home, is that why letters can't get through? Is that why our school letters were delivered while we were in London and not at the house?"

"Breathe, darling." Mrs. Granger admonished her daughter lightly. "Allow them a chance to reply before you ask a new question."

"Sorry, mum." She repeated the apology to the two she'd been talking to and then asked Sirius about the mail ward again.

Sirius, like Buffy, already had some experience with the girl's rapid-fire questioning and were not offended. The wizards accepted the apology and the elder one replied. "Yes, there are mail wards on most of the Black properties. I think the only exception is a house in London. It's where my parents lived."

"I didn't get any letters from Ron, but I'll explain it to him when we meet up with him on the train. I hope he isn't too upset about it. He does know who I was staying with, and he probably also knows how the Black family is about warding." Buffy knew that had been included in the lessons Sirius had given him on pureblood families, so it was good to see him use the information.

"How is Ron? Still upset his mum wouldn't let him come with Sirius and me?" Buffy didn't like all she had heard about the Weasley matriarch. She seemed to think it was acceptable that Hermione stayed for most of the Summer with them despite barely having met her parents, but it was unacceptable that her son stays with someone for even a week. Yes, there was the whole Azkaban thing, but reading between the lines it was obvious she had been told by someone, most likely Dumbledore, that he was innocent.

The teenagers exchanged news while the adults held their own conversations. Breakfast was pleasant. Afterward, they bought a healthy pre-packaged lunch to bring with them on the train, including several bottles of water.

The two elder Granger's approved as they were dentists, and Harry was mostly just happy to get food with him at all. His prior trips had been without and the only thing he'd had to eat was candy from a trolley about half-way through the journey. While it tasted good it wasn't very nourishing.

They left for the station at about 10:10. When they got there they collected Hermione's luggage which they had stored there while they ate, and then they entered Platform 9 3/4 with Hermione holding her father's hand and Harry holding her mother's hand so they could get through. Buffy threw the Invisibility Cloak over herself before following.

It was one thing to be seen in Diagon Alley doing some shopping, even if it was with the famous Harry Potter, but it was something entirely different to see him off to school. She wasn't entirely sure why this was so important, but she trusted her instincts and that's what they told her to do. They had agreed to send Hedwig with the Cloak later that night. It had the added benefit that the owl didn't have to be cooped up for hours in a small cage, but instead got to tale a long flight.

Sirius, of course, posed as the Granger's dog, much to everyone's amusement. He even produced a dog collar from somewhere which proclaimed him to be named 'Padfoot'. He was sooo explaining that one when they returned to the summer home, she just hoped it wasn't some kinky thing she was going to regret asking about.

Buffy followed the teens onto the train since there weren't many people there yet. Once they chose a train car, she helped them put the trunks in the overhead compartments. She looked around, it appeared to be a very old model even for the '90s.

Sirius had followed along as well, but Hermione's parents chose to remain on the platform. He briefly turned human and gave them a few last warnings, told them to be careful, and then gave Harry a fast hug before turning back. Buffy opened the Cloak and hugged both of the teens before leaving.

The Weasley's didn't arrive until a few minutes before departure and had to run to make it. That was some bad planning on their part. What if they hadn't made it? The children would've gotten in trouble because the parents weren't able to plan ahead of time.

As the train left the station, Buffy began wondering how they were going to fix Sirius' situation. It all depended on the rat. If they could find where he'd gone they could prove Sirius' innocence, but without out it, he would probably be convicted for something he hadn't done.

They would have to plan carefully to make it stick, even if they had to use the Tournament as a bargaining chip to achieve it. If Sirius was free, then Harry would also be free of his horrible relatives. So it was a win-win if they managed it.


End file.
